On October 5, 2009, Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the enzyme telomerase. That would be the first time in history that two women would share said award.
On this occasion we want to remember the path traveled by Elizabeth Helen Blackburn until she was awarded.
Elizabeth was born in Hobart, in the Australian province of Tasmania, on November 26, 1948. As a good daughter of doctors, she was always attracted to science. In her childhood, she enjoyed Australian nature spending a lot of time observing it. She maintained that interest all the way through high school, where she would reaffirm her passion for living organisms. A passion that would later become her calling.
To pursue her higher education, Elizabeth decided to apply for a scholarship to the University of Melbourne to study biochemistry. She managed to win it, starting a prosperous career as a scientist.
First steps towards the discovery of the enzyme telomerase
After graduating in biochemistry, he led his efforts to get his Ph.D. Her destiny would be in Cambridge, United Kingdom, being admitted in 1970 as a doctoral student in the laboratory of the Medical Research Council (MRC).
Blackburn earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology in 1975 with the 1958 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, scientist Fred Sanger, as his thesis advisor.
While studying at Cambridge, she met John Sedat, a doctor in molecular biology like her, with whom she married, had a child and moved to the United States.
Blackburn had won a postdoctoral fellowship to study at Yale University for his thesis on nucleic acid sequencing.
During his stay at Yale University he met Joseph G. Gall, a cell biologist with whom he would make important discoveries.
Gall, at that time, was working on the culture of Tetrahymena and on the design of a method for the purification of minichromosomes of this protozoan.
Blackburn began to collaborate with Gall in 1978, being a very productive duo. Working together, they managed to identify the molecular composition of Tetrahymena’s telomeres. In addition, they found that the ends of the chromosomes had DNA sequences that were successively repeated.
It was then that these scientists realized that there was a link between telomeres and cellular aging.
Path to the Nobel Prize in Medicine
At a scientific meeting in 1980, Blackburn met Jack W. Szostak, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. He had shown great interest in Blackburn’s studies on Tetrahymena telomeres, so that some time later they would start a joint project to continue investigating telomeres.
Then, in 1984, botanist Carol Greider joined the team. This union would mark the course towards the discovery of the enzyme telomerase and the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 2009.
These three scientists discovered in December 1984 that the enzyme behind the catalysis of telomere synthesis was telomerase. But their findings did not end there, they also found that the enzyme telomerase helps in the cancer cell reproduction and its spread to new tissues.
The Nobel Prize was the finishing touch to recognize his merits and his contributions to telomere research, creating a solid foundation for future studies.
References:
Elizabeth Helen Blackburn: https://www.conicyt.cl/mujeres-en-ciencia-y-tecnologia/mujeres-destacadas/premios-nobel/elizabeth-h-blackburn/
Who is Elizabeth Blackburn? Discover her contributions to science: https://www.fundacionaquae.org/wiki/elizabeth-blackburn-bioquimica-australiana-descubridora-de-la-telomerasa-y-premio-nobel-2009/